Iowa 69, UI women 55: 'Few more stops'

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The Illinois women’s basketball team struggled to find an offensive rhythm early and couldn’t cut into Iowa’s double-digit lead in the second half, falling 69-55 Thursday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The Illinois women’s basketball team struggled to find an offensive rhythm early and couldn’t cut into Iowa’s double-digit lead in the second half, falling 69-55 Thursday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Illinois (9-16, 2-10 Big Ten) suffered its sixth straight Big Ten loss and only led on two occasions, both early in the first half.

Ashley McConnell scored a career-high 13 points to pace the Illini as coach Matt Bollant once again started three freshmen. Amber Moore added 11 points off the bench, and Taylor Tuck contributed nine points in a reserve role.

“I thought we played really hard defensively,” Bollant said. “In the second half, we just needed to get a few more stops and give ourselves a chance to get back into the game, and we weren’t able to do that.”